Batting



(Model.)

G.V.B.CLA RK.

BATTING.

Patent-edApr. 174, 1896.

ANDREW RGRAHAM. PNUTOUTHQWASHINGTUN. DC.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE V. B. CLARK, OF VALATIE, NEV YORK.

BATTING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 558,352, dated April 14, 1896. Original application filed June 5, 1895, Serial No. 551,751. Divided and this application led February 27, 1896. Serial No.

To all whom t mag/ concern- Be it known that I, GEORGE V. B. CLARK, a citizen of the United States, residing at Valatie, county of Columbia, and State of New York, have invented lcertain new and useful Improvements in Batting, fully described and represented in the following speciiication and the accompanying drawings, forming a part of the same; l Y

This invention comprehends a new article of manufacture, consisting of batting having the surface ibers generally projecting from the body and presenting free ends or outer portions, their inner ends or other portions being secured to the body by adhesive material. This adhesive material is applied to the fibrous mass in an atomic condition and then dried without pressure being exerted upon the surface of the batting, whereby the body or massed fibers are not only held together or maintained in the condition of a sheet, but the surface bers thereofare united to the body, so that they in general project from the body and present free outer portions that constitute a light, loose, fibrous, downy, or fluffy exterior.

Sheet-cotton in the form of batting as heretofore produced has been made by carding or combing, the resulting bat or sheet, whether pressed or not, having its component fibers held together by their adhesionto one another through an interlocking action but such bat-A ting, in consequence of its structural weakness, is limited to small proportions as to the size in which it can be practically made and rendered capable of being folded, lapped, opened, and handled. Such batting, made in a sheet of any considerable widthwise proportions such as the market demands, requires that some strengthening means shall be applied to maintain it from rupture in making, packing, handling, or using it.

One of the objects of myl invention is the production of a batting of fibrous material, preferably cotton, having not only such a bodily structure as will capacitate it to be made in sheets of very large dimensions and possessing a structural strength that will enable it to be readily manipulated in folding, lapping, and handling and in being un- (Model.)

rolled and opened out, but'havin g an exterior surface the component fibers whereof have free outer portions that are' maintained in and present a light, loose, fibrous, downy, or iiuffy condition.

Another object of the invention is to enable the making of such a fibrous sheet out of short stock, as lint or shoddy, either Wholly or combined with a material having a long staple, the exterior surface whereof not only presents the above-described condition, but the composing libers of which are securely held against readydetachment,

The invention may be carried into practice by means of hand manipulation only, or' one may make use of various forms of mechanism.

One improved apparatus for producing this new article of manufacture is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of said apparatus; and Fig. 2 is a plan view, partly in section, of the feeding end thereof.

It consists of suitable supports rising from a table A, as the guides 10 11, for receiving a spindle carrying a lap or laps C D E, wound upon the same from a carding-engine, over which table A is arranged to be suitably moved an endless apron 17, here shown as led over rollers 12 13 and idlers 14 and returned over a roller 16, said apron thus extending from said table through a drying chamber or kiln B, the interior of which is 'Listed by a steam-radiator 20 or in any other suitable manner.

Above the table A this apparatus is pro` vided with one or more spraying or atomizingdevices, as 18 19 20,whereby an adhesive mixture conveyed thereto in anysuitable and common manner is emitted in a ine atomic condition onto the laps to be treat/ed. At the other end of the apparatus, outside the kiln B, there is a roller 30, around which the lap or bat returns through the kiln, from near which roller to a point over the tableA and extending through the kiln B is arranged an endless apron 21, running over rollers 35 36 and idlers 15, and over this apron 21, outside the kiln `and near the roller 30, is arranged a spraying or atomizing device 24. At the end of the IOO kiln near the table another roller 31 is provided, around which the finished lap or bat is guided or carried and led away for packing.

Assuming that but one lap or bat, as E, is to be treated, the same will be led from the roll supported byone set of the guides 10 11 and be slowly carried through the machine. The atomizer 1S being set into operation will emit the adhesive material in an atomic mist that will descend upon the upper surface of this bat and permeate the loose surface fibers of the bat far enough to cause portions of them at some little distance below the actual surface thereof to adhere together when the adhesive material is dried. The bat thus treated with the adhesive material is slowly carried through the drying-kiln B by the apron 17, and being fully dried emerges therefrom with the fibers composing one surface thereof attached together so far below the actual surface of the bat, or where the fibers lay massed together, that the outward-projecting parts of the surface fibers are left free, thus preserving the fluffy condition the bat possesses before such treatment. XVith one side thus treated the bat is turned over the roller 30 and-carried through the kiln in an opposite direction upon the apron 21, thus exposing its untreated surface for the reception of the atomized adhesive material delivered thereto from the atomizer 24, which surface is thus treated and dried in like manner as was the first, the result being that when the bat emerges at the entering end of said kiln, thoroughly dried, it has the fibers composing both its surfaces so fastened together at or near that portion of them Where the fibers are massed or form the body part of the bat that the surface fibers will, retaining freedom in their extremities, thus preserve a iuify condition, and at the same time, being united together by adhesive material, so embrace, lock, and bind together the interior or body fibers as to compose a bat of great strength, which can be made of large size and be capable of handling, manipulation, and use without danger of rupture, which bat as a completed article is passed onward over the roller 31 and delivered .ready to be folded, lapped, bundled, or packaged, as may be required. All of the apron and bat carrying or guiding rollers may be geared together to run in unison or be otherwise revolved in proper time to transport the bat.

The atomizers 18 19 20 24 may be of any structure, and although atomizers are the preferred means for delivering the adhesive material to the bat, any means which will deposit the adhesive material in appropriate quantity and condition without pressure may be employed.

By reference to Fig. 2 it.will be observed that the carrying-apron 17, upon which each bat is supported when subjected to treatment by the atomized adhesive material, is of less width than the bat E. This is an important feature of the apparatus, as it is obvious that if the adhesive material is allowed to deposit upon the apron 17 the latter will, after a short run, ad here to the edge of the bat, and consequently tear or pull it to pieces, thus destroying its finish. By making the apron slightly narrower than the bat its carrying function may still be performed and the bat protect it from receiving any deposit of adhesive material.

Of course what has been shown as a single apron 17 may be made up of a number of short aprons and that running over the table A may be narrower and the other wider than the bat.

When two or more laps are passed through this machine-as, for instance, those marked C D, mounted in the holders 10 11-the additional atomizers 19 and 20 will be set into operation, and the result will be that the compound bat produced by the apparatus will be composed of two or three laps, as the case may be, united together interiorly by adhesive material and having exposed surfaces treated with the atomized adhesive material and having the characteristic structure, as before explained. The article of manufacture thus produced,either single, double,or triple plied, and whether made of long staple and short fibers, either or both, will have its surface fibers generally so attached by portions of them below the surface proper as not only to connect them to the body fibers and embrace and bind the body iibers strongly together, but preserve the outer or exposed portions of the surface fibers in such a free or independent state as to give the batting the light, loose, fibrous, open, or fuzzy condition of a carded bat, and at the same time providing it with soft, downy, yielding, and elastic surfaces as distinguished from the harsh, compact, solid surfaces of a pressed, ironed, calendered, or glazed surfaced bat, such as one covered with sizing under pressure. This improved bat may not only be fabricated of very large dimensions, by reason of its inherent strength, but in consequence of that strength it may be folded, lapped, rolled, or packaged and be unrolled and opened out without danger of injuring or rupture. Furthermore, its structure renders it so elastic that when packaged it produces a bundle comparatively greater in dimensions than a similar quantity of fiber forming the usual batting. Long staple and short stock of cotton, wool, or other material may be used, wholly or partly, in the composing stock for my improved batting.

It may now be stated that by this method of treating fibers a bat may be composed entirely of shoddy or lint and not only present exposed surfaces having the light, loose, fibrous, fuzzy, or downy condition of a carded bat, but one having its fibers so secured as to produce a strong bat of large dimensions possessing sufficient strength to enable it t0 be packaged, bundled, and used without rupture and without detaching its exposed fibers.

IOO

IIO

This applicationis a divisional part of my application, Serial No., 551,751, filed June 5, 1895, wherein the method of making the herein-described article of manufacture and` the apparatus herein shown and described are,

lexplained and claimed, and consequently the same are not herein claimed.

What is claimed is- 1.- As a new article of manufacture, a batting having its surface fibersv generally projecting from the body and presenting free ends or outer portions and having their inner ends or other portions secured tothe body by adhesive materia1,substantially as described.

2. -A bat, the body fibers of which are held 15 together, and the surface fibers whereof are united to the body, by adhesive material, said surface bers in general projecting from the body and presenting free outer portions that constitute'a light, loose, fibrous, downy, or 2o fluffy exterior, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

GEORGE V. B. CLARK. Vitnesses LEWIS F. FoWLER, THOMAS SHAUeHNEss. 

